In the realm of education, the significance of nutrition in the lives of students cannot be overstated. Proper nutrition plays a pivotal role in their growth, development, and overall well-being. To delve deeper into this topic, we had the privilege of hosting Christine Clarahan, a renowned expert in school nutrition, on our podcast. In this blog post, we recap the key insights and takeaways from our enlightening conversation about school food meals and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).
In this Episode:
- Christine discusses her work history and qualifications to be a school foodservice director
- Christine discusses her job responsibilities as a school foodservice director and what her day looks like
- What her favorite thing is about the foodservice industry
- Christine shares more about her leadership role with SNA and the role of SNA as an organization
- The importance of FFVP and fruit and vegetables overall in the school meal program
- Hammond Harvest
Notable Quotes:
“I have my school nutrition specialist credential, which I think is really important to show professionalism. I love the term lunch lady, but I also want people to know that when you are a lunch lady, it means you’ve done a whole lot of learning to become a lunch lady.”
“How do we bring education about fruits and vegetables into the classrooms, working with the teachers? So every day is different and I love that. That’s my favorite part.”
“Well over 75% of our families fall into that food insecure area. We have just under like 12,000 students. I think right now around 11,800 You know, we’re serving over 12,000 meals every day between breakfast and lunch not even including snacks and just like you said we’re more than lunch.”
“The importance of nutrition, it’s always been important, growing up with a mom as a dietician, but if kids are willing to break the law because they know they have three good meals and a safe place to eat them, I mean, that speaks a lot to the food insecurity of a lot of our youth face.”
“Outside the parameters of the fresh fruit and vegetable program, how do we get kids excited to try something that they may not have had before? So one to two times a month, we’ve been picking different items and we will prepare like a tri-size portion of it and have it out for every student to try during the meals.”
Resources:
Website: Index | School City of Hammond
